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Subject:RE: Fact Sheet + Bench marking for IT OSS From:Megan Golding <mgolding -at- secureworks -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 9 Aug 2002 08:01:12 -0400
nayanika -dot- yellepeddi -at- silverline -dot- com wrote:
> I have been asked to submit a brief writeup on IT Operational Support
> Systems for a company that I was interviewed by a couple of days ago.
> The tasks are to:
...
> 3) Identify a competitor B
When company A and company B are both small companies, this can be a
difficult task, as there will be little written about them in trade
publications. That said, I'd forge ahead and hit the pubs that're popular in
the industry segment they serve. If both are "IT" companies, magazines like
Eweek, Information Week, ZDnet, and others are generic IT pubs. Also, if you
can narrow down the vertical markets these companies serve, you should be
able to find more targeted pubs.
Once you hit the web sites for some of these publications, use their search
features to search for "company A + company B". Annually, most of these
magazines publish buyers' guides which will compare products from company A
and company B.
To cast a broader net, go to Google and search for "company A + company B".
You may get lucky here.
> 4) Differentiating factors between A & B
Again, the trade pubs will likely write articles about the products from
both companies. If "differentiating factors" refers to products, then you're
probably covered. If it means differences between the companies themselves,
that'll prove a little harder.
Let's assume the latter case to make our investigation more interesting :)
Call company A and ask a sales person a few questions: Do you sell direct or
through resellers? Do you hold any certifications such as ISO9000, etc? Do
you have any industry awards to your name? etc, etc.
> 5) Likely future trend of the market space
Hmmm...this is a little more difficult. My hunch? Reporters love to
speculate about the industry. Look for news articles with words like
"looking ahead" or "trends" in them. If these are IT companies, sites like
ZDnet can provide a wealth of information. Articles published at the end of
the calendar year often do a retrospective and throw in a little
forward-looking for fun. You may find what you need if you scan articles
written and published in late December.
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